My sister, My friend

Going to talk about my sisters today.  My mom always told me to cherish my sisters 
because in the end, that's all I will have.  Mom didn't have any sisters and she 
always wished she did.  She was the oldest of five children.  All little brothers.  Oh
the horror!!  


I am the baby of the family.  I have three older sisters.  Marta, Matilda and Marla.  Now 
isn't it funny all their names start with an "M" and mine and "A?"  Oh well, I've always 
been a little different too.  (I can clearly see how that last comment didn't surprise you in the least.  Not even a facial change when you read it)


I will start with my oldest sister Marta.  We won't go into just HOW much older she is than
me but will just stick with her being my oldest.  Most of my memories growing up were of me
hanging out in her bedroom with her.  Lots of times her friends would come over and they would
sit in her room and gossip.  Can you imagine?  Filthy girls!  -_-  


I always thought that she kept me under her wing as I was growing up but she didn't.....now that 
I think back.  She didn't teach me how to curl my hair the right way.  She didn't teach me how
to put make-up on the right way.............clearly I have always needed help in the eye liner
department.  She didn't teach me basketball.  She didn't teach me that I shouldn't bite my nails.
And she didn't teach me that boys really are dumb.  


I remember when I was a very young girl and always always always looked forward to Christmas.  What kid didn't, right?  On Christmas Eve, I always had to sleep in Marta's room with her and Matilda because I would try to sneak downstairs and catch Santa Claus in the act.  My parents caught on to that QUICK!  I think it was because they had plenty of practice ahead of me.


Anyway, we would all lie in bed and Marta, Matilda and I would start singing Christmas songs.
And right in the middle of a song, Marta would say "Shhhhhhh!!  Do you hear that?  Do you hear
Santa outside?"  And of course we would IMMEDIATELY stop singing and start listening.  I never heard anything.  They kept telling me they heard him but I will be damned if I ever heard anything.  I think they were screwing with me.  It's still one of my favorite memories though.  Time with my sisters; singing and laughing. 


Marta was always big into basketball.  She has loved it as long as I can remember and loves it 
still to this day.  She really gets into it.  I love it as well.  Maybe she DID instill some of 
that in me.  She must have lived in her basketball clothes though because almost everytime
I reminisce, I remember her in uniform.  Except for vacations.  She wore normal ugly clothes
like the rest of us.  I'm sure she picked on me as we were growing up but I honestly don't remember it.  


I think as sisters, we were comrades.  No matter what happened, ya know.  Marta got preggos when she was in high school.  WHOA, even I knew that was bad!  I remember when her and her boyfriend came in the house to talk to mom and dad about what they were going to do, etc. and I just took off for my bedroom.  Probably stayed there the rest of the evening, not sure.  All I remember is I didn't want to be witness to anything.  Bad or good.  And I probably had to get away so I could "giggle" because Marta and Manny "did it."


So they were married.  A year after their baby boy was born.  The wedding was fun.  I got to
get a new pink dress for that so I was pretty stoked.  Wore it all the time after the wedding.  
Mom made me take it off so she could wash it once in a while.  I don't know why that mattered.  


So back to this baby boy.  His name is Jimmy.  I didn't know how he and I would get along.  He
was getting ALL of Marta's attention, not to mention everyone else's and I didn't like that.  Not one bit.  I was nine years old and already an aunt.  That is something I have always been proud of.  I remember someone telling me (a high schooler) that it was something very special to be "picked" to be an aunt at such an early age.  That that meant I was going to be very good at it. Like I had a choice, come on!   Jimmy always liked to hear that when he was young.  He would always say to me, "Tell me about when you became an aunt."


I even told him that when he came home from the hospital, I was pretty sure they brought the wrong baby home because he looked just like a short Japanese man.  I was convinced someone at the hospital made the switch and my family was so excited to have a baby in the family, they didn't even notice.  And there's the other thing that pissed me off.  He was the new baby.  I didn't know if I could ever learn to like this new baby boy, let alone love him.  


I fell over a clothes basket once while walking with him when he was a baby.  We landed on a metal air intake vent.  Luckily, I had been carrying him with both arms lengthwise undernearth him.  See, I saved his life.  Let's see, I shut his fingers (3 of them, I think) in a metal door.
That was a bad bad night.  But I have already told that story.  *shivers*


I was unintentionally mean to this child.  To this day, I regret those things.  Of course, as you
all know, it didn't take long for me to love this child with everything in my heart and soul.  He
has always had a special place because I feel like we kinda grew up together.  


So I have Marta to thank for a couple of awesome kids in my life.  And several more great 
nephews.  She still lives in the hometown and I try to get down to see her.  We like to do a lot
of things together.  Different things than what Matilda and I do.  We have our own fun.


So back to the top, where I said all those things that she "didn't teach me."  The reason I say that is because she is famous for saying "I had to practically raise you because you wouldn't listen to mom and she had four other kids to take care of!"  So there Miss Marta, you didn't teach me enough stuff growing up.  But I still love you.  <3  Thanks for teaching me unconditional love.  That is more important than everything else.


My next older sister is Matilda.  You've heard PLENTY of stories about her!  She is usually known as my "partner in crime."  She's also several years older than me so I won't mention years..... or age -_-  Matilda is my best friend among best friends.  She is the one I can go to when something is bothering me and she can bitch right along side me when something is pissing me off.  She will listen to me cry on the phone and she will scream and yell at me when I have pissed her the fuck off!  And trust me, we have pissed each other off on numerous occasions.  


Matilda and I became alliances at a young age because we had a brother that liked to "pick" on us.  Sometimes he was a real asshole and when we would cry to mom, WE would get in trouble for crying!  Yeah, that's how it was.  We should've been running to dad but he was usually working.  Mom loved her boys so much.  Don't get me wrong, she loved her girls too but from the get-go, her boys were HER boys.  


When I was young, I liked to be naked.  I don't know why.  Sometimes I still do.  But when I was
young, I slept naked.  With a fan on me.  And about three blankets.  Some things never change.  Well, one night in particular, Matilda and I decided we would sleep in the same bed.  We were expecting bad weather and there was a possibility of a tornado.  She in her blankets, me in mine.  Of course I was naked under there and Matilda did NOT like that one bit.  But I convinced her it would be okay.  I would be burrowed under my blankets anyway so it's not like my cooties were gonna get out.


We were laying there in bed, looking out the window and just gabbing away.  I don't know where anyone else was.  All I know is that Mom, Matilda and me were the only ones home.  So anyway, we are laughing and carrying on and all of a sudden, the tornado whistle goes off.  Now, keep this in mind.  We lived right across the street from the tornado whistle.  So it was LOUD.  And I think our window was open too so that didn't help.  So the whistle goes off and Matilda and I JUMP out of bed.  No, I didn't even THINK about taking my blankets.  I run out of the room and Matilda is right on my heels and at the same time, mom has run down the hallway.  We all three collide outside the bedroom door.  


I didn't stick around, I kept running.  Down the stairs I go!  Just as SOON as I hit the bottom of the  stairs (that comes out right in front of our front door), my brother Perry, his wife and baby run in the door.  Perry says "Get your damn clothes on!"  Well all my clothes are upstairs and there's a possible tornado coming our way!  I grabbed the nearest thing to me.  My beautiful white fur (fake) coat.  I figured if I was going to die, I may as well die in style.  


So there I sat.  In the basement.  In my white fur coat.  And that was it.  With my family.  I couldn't even play with my nephew because I was naked under my coat and I would get too hot.  Dammit.  I think after that I started sleeping in underwear and t-shirt.  At least I was covered enough to play until I was blown away.  Which didn't happen.  Obviously.


Anyway, Matilda also told me things that weren't true and I believed them because well..........she was older and was supposed to know these things.  I remember one day we were going to M-town with Grandma.  We passed this little town in between and there sat this house on the curve.  This house sat at a different angle than all the rest of the houses on that road.  It stuck out to me.  I asked nobody in particular, "Why does that house sit crooked like that?"  I don't know why I said crooked but I did.  Matilda pipes up "So tornadoes can't hit it."  Well, I'll be damned!  If that wasn't just the smartest thing I have ever heard.  Those people are BRILLIANT!!  And I believed that for several years.  Until I got old enough to KNOW better.  


We still laugh about that.  We will drive by it and I will say "I wonder why that house sits like that."  And she says with a laugh, "So tornadoes don't get it."  We are truly dorks sometimes.  But I love that little memory we share.  And one time in M-town, this may have even been the same trip because we were with Grandma then too; Matilda and cousin Becca got into it.  I don't know what they got into it about but I know Matilda was MAD.  We were at Dairy Queen when it happened.  Matilda storms out of DQ and we just sit there and watch her.  She starts out walking north. She gets to the end of the block and probably realized she really couldn't get home without us.....or at the very least, Grandma.....and plops her ass down.  I think there was a gas station there at the time or something.  She just SAT there.  Didn't face us or anything.  I, being the little genius that I am, told Grandma that we better have one more ice cream so Matilda had time to cool off.  Grandma however, did not go for that.  She let us finish our ice
cream, loaded us in the car, pulled right into that gas station and told Matilda to "GET IN!"  And she did.


I didn't see Grandma mad very often but that was one of the few times I did.  I still think to this day that another ice cream cone probably would have made the rest of us feel better about the whole situation AND it would be a great memory instead of a bad one.  Okay, I'm lying.  It's not a bad memory at all.  It's a "funny as hell" memory.


And speaking of Matilda getting mad, here's a doozy.  Mom, Matilda and I had been to the city for who-knows-what and on the way home, we stopped at Hardees to eat.  Well, Matilda rattles something off about her husband (who is now her ex, just so the record is straight).  Well little ole me didn't like what she said and I said something back to her.  Mom tells us to keep it quiet.  That this isn't the place to argue.  All the while, she is looking around to
make sure nobody knows us and Matilda and I get a little louder.  "Girls, quiet down.  The whole world doesn't need to hear you argue!"  And that just made it elevate to a whole new level because her and I had our voices raised and I spouted off something to the effect of "It's about time you stopped living for HIM and start living for you and your kids because obviously he isn't including YOU in his life."  Not my exact words by any means but I know it was something to that effect.  Matilda was pissed because I told her something she didn't want to hear.  I was pissed because Matilda was telling me something I didn't want to hear and poor mom!  Oh that poor woman!!  She was REALLY PISSED because neither of us would listen to her!


For years, we heard how we have no manners in public and we need to "carry ourselves accordingly."  I do believe I was carrying myself accordingly.  SOMEONE had to put Matilda in her place!  I mean, come on!!  My sister....my best friend.....she was making a huge mistake................. by not listening to ME!!  Oh yeah, I'm sure she's laughing her ass off right now at this!


Heck, even a year ago, Matilda and I got into it.  We were sitting at her house and yelling back and forth at each other.  I wonder what the neighbors thought?  I stormed out of her house with a loud "FUCK YOU" and poor Gee following me.  He didn't know what was wrong and what was right.  All he knew was that I was his ride home and he better get in the fucking car!  I cried all the way home because Matilda is a stubborn jack-ass.  -_-  Two days later it was Mother's Day and I sent her a text message telling her "Happy Mother's Day" and she replied with a "Thank you" and all was forgiven.  We didn't even need to discuss it again.  I had realized she was stubborn and hard to get along with and she had realized I am a big mouth and always right.  HA!


Matilda has two kids.  Jeannie, whom you have heard a few things about; and then there's Willy.  They are thirteen months apart in age.....barely.  More like twelve and fifteen days apart.  I don't know why anyone wants to be preggos so often but hey, I love the benefits I got out of her having children.  I feel pretty close to these two also.  Don't know what I'd do without them.  They really do make me smile.  


So there's my "schpeel" on my sisters.  Two of them anyway.  I can't imagine breathing a single breath without them in my life.  They truly are the best.  I have one more sister to talk about and that's a difficult one for me.  I think this is too long anyway so I will save Marla's for tomorrow.  Until then!  Thanks for reading!!!